1980 My Entertainment Era

Chapter 11: Earthquake
The Gregorian New Year had just passed and the new year had begun. Everyone was very happy, but suddenly bad news came.

On January 1, the beloved Prime Minister passed away.

Three days later, the grieving people of the capital all gathered on Min'an Street to see the Prime Minister off for the last time.

Xia Tian naturally also participated - the long flow of people and the solemn and heavy atmosphere made him feel as if he was in a textbook.

However, the bad news of this year is not over yet.

April 4th was Qingming Festival. The next day, countless people sent wreaths and mourning couplets to the monument. Countless people gathered, gave speeches, and appealed. Many people wrote poems...

Xia Tian watched from afar, not daring to get involved in this major historical event. But later on, I had seen the copied poems in history textbooks, and now I saw them with my own eyes.

This incident made the atmosphere in Yanjing City tense.

After that, they went to school and classes as usual in the summer, and the weather gradually became warmer.

On July 7, Yanjing Television started broadcasting the "News Broadcast" program on a trial basis.

Of course he didn’t see it in the summer, because his family didn’t have a TV.

I heard from Xia's father that a group of cadres and workers stayed in front of the TV in the factory to watch the program after get off work.

This can also be considered as a historical testimony!

Five days later, General Zhu passed away...

After that, it was summer vacation. I saw a report about archaeology in the newspaper that summer.

In the winter of 1975, Anyang was swept by a wave of learning agriculture from Dazhai. Xiaotun Village near Yinxu decided to level the terrace where Fu Hao's tomb was located for agricultural development.

However, this area is within the scope of cultural relics protection, so the archaeological team discussed with the working team at that time not to level it first, but to drill and explore the underground conditions before making a decision. After obtaining the approval documents for archaeological excavation, the excavation began in 1976...

Because in later times, the capital city could see a long and short video introduction about Fu Hao's tomb, so Xia Tian paid some attention to it. This is a tomb from the Shang Dynasty!
The feeling of seeing the past happening right before my eyes is so wonderful that it is hard to describe. In other words, I am in the river of history.

Late one night in late July, Xia suddenly opened his eyes, and then in the dim moonlight outside the window, he saw the light bulb connected to the wires above his head shaking slightly.

The ground is shaking!
Xia Tian didn't bother to put on clothes. He rushed out of the bedroom in his shorts and banged on the door of Xia's parents' room: "Dad! Mom! The ground is shaking. Run!"

At this time, the feeling of the ground shaking was already quite obvious, and I could feel my feet shaking.

The family of three hurriedly ran to the yard, and then heard the neighbors shouting in panic and the scene was chaotic.

For example, the large compound of Dachun next door has three courtyards, with more than a dozen families living in it. It is a mess with people crying and shouting.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, son!" Mother Xia was still shivering, but she hugged Xia Tian to comfort him.

"Mom, it's okay. I'm not afraid, and you don't have to be afraid either."

Dad Xia risked his life to go into the house and drag out the mat, lounge chair and other things. The three of them didn't dare go back into the house and lay in the yard for several hours until dawn.

Needless to say, the city of Yanjing was in a state of panic and disarray. The next day, we received accurate information through the newspapers that the epicenter of the earthquake was in an industrial town more than 150 miles east of Yanjing.

According to records: At 3 a.m., a blue light pierced the night sky. Then the sky rotated and the earth shook.

Military and police had been dispatched for emergency rescue, and the residents in Yanjing also quickly found various woods and other materials and built an "earthquake shed" in the yard - they dared not live in the house for fear of aftershocks.

……

The tragedy is not far away, but life must go on.

A strange pigeon whistle sounded overhead, and a flock of colorful pigeons flew through the air.

Old Yanjing people have the habit of raising pigeons. They tie pigeon whistles on the pigeons' feet, which make a whistling sound when they fly over.

Although it was just past five o'clock, Xia Tian had already completed his morning exercise.

Ever since I started practicing martial arts, I have developed the habit of getting up early to do morning exercises. I have too much energy, so I need to kill some time.

Hearing the car bell ring at the door, Xia Tian opened the door and took out a copy of "Yanjing Evening News" from the mailbox beside the door...

There is a newspaper box on the gate of almost every courtyard, and subscribing to the "Yanjing Evening News" is a habit of Yanjing people.

There are already some people walking on the street. Some of them don’t like to cook in the morning, so they go to the nearby state-owned restaurant to buy breakfast or something.

Xia Tian said hello to a few neighbors, took his change and food coupons to the breakfast shop and bought some steamed buns.

Although there was porridge at home, he wanted to eat something dry considering his appetite.

At this time, the next door had started to become lively, with various voices of men and women being heard.

There is only one faucet in the large compound over there.

Neighbors have to make time difference when doing laundry, feeding rice, and washing vegetables.

However, tap water is free now, but when the market economy comes, water meters will be used.

……

A group of men in the school were playing cockfighting, also known as "colliding with each other", which involves bending one leg and jumping on one leg to collide with each other.

This is a game that boys like. It tests the ability to withstand blows while standing on one foot.

It was a hot day, and it was noon. The boys didn't mind the heat, and they were having a great time, sweating all over their faces. Of course, I didn't participate in the summer, but once I was persuaded by a group of people, I participated, and it was a big drama of a tank hitting a bicycle.

He didn't even need to use any strength, he just kicked his knee and sent the other person flying to the ground.

After more than a dozen of them were thrown into the air, the students politely said: "Sun Dasheng, please stop using your magical powers! We overestimated our abilities, and it was our fault! We are ashamed that we failed to satisfy you... "

Some people even compete with each other to see how high their urine volume is when they go to the toilet - boys' games are so plain and boring.

Xia Tian let them see what a 2.5-meter-tall figure really was—it even reached the roof!
Dachun was looking worried when school was over, as he had another small test today.

Dachun has nothing to say about mathematics. He doesn't know it and it doesn't know him.

Dachun only regretted that his parents had given him a few more hands, so that he didn't have enough fingers to use when taking math tests!
Later, Xia Tian realized that there was really no way to expect Dachun to do mental arithmetic, so he taught him to count with his fingers. As a result, many years later, Dachun still habitually counted with his fingers, and thus earned the nickname "Good at counting with fingers".

As for Chinese, everything else is fine except memorizing poems, which is a bit difficult. Also, I have my own unique understanding of reading comprehension, and finally, I struggle with writing essays... It seems that there is nothing else to say?

Anyway, during this Chinese exam, Dachun copied Xia Tian's composition while the teacher wasn't paying attention.

As a result, the names of the people in the composition were copied exactly and I forgot to change them.

The teacher was so angry that she laughed: "Dachun, did you copy Xia Tian's composition?"

Dachun: "No, teacher!"

That guy is just a tough guy. With his silly look on his face, you can tell he is quite deceptive.

But the teacher raised another question: "Your mother is also called Han Luomei?!"

Dachun was stunned for two seconds: "...My godmother!"

As a result, the teacher wanted to find his parents.
However, the boy's troubles went away quickly. On the way home, the two of them came across a popsicle stall. There was a large wooden box on the tricycle, which was wrapped in a quilt to keep out the heat.

I had more money in the summer, so I treated Dachun to some popsicles. We sat on the side of the road and made seven or eight two-cent saccharin popsicles!
"That's enough. I can't eat this anymore. It's too sweet and has too many calories~" Xia Tian felt that his pocket money was running out.

Dachun looked puzzled: "High in calories? Impossible, popsicles are cold, how can they have calories?"

Xia Tian kicked him and said, "Stop talking nonsense! Let's go now. You have to tell Aunt Li about finding your parents when you get home!"

Sure enough, after hearing this, Dachun immediately forgot about the calories.

As soon as I entered the alley, before I even got home, I heard a lot of noise.

Dachun looked into his own courtyard and saw an old man in a white coat and carrying a small wooden box, standing at a table and distributing something, surrounded by a crowd of people.

This is Old Man Sun from the nearby grain store, who is responsible for issuing grain coupons every month.

Everyone acted as if they had met their closest relative. Neighbors vied to pull Old Sun into the yard, invited him to sit down, enthusiastically poured him a glass of water, and asked about his health with concern.

It was a planned economy back then, materials were scarce, and you had to use tickets to do everything.

The most important of all the tickets must be the food coupons. Without cloth coupons, you can only wear old clothes for two years at most, but without food coupons, you will starve!
Food for city dwellers is rationed: the maximum ration is 32 kilograms for citizens, 46 kilograms for heavy manual laborers, and 30 kilograms for students.

It's not just rice and flour, but a mix of coarse and fine grains, including corn, soybeans, sorghum and other grains.

There was very little fine grain, and coarse grain was the main grain. The quantity and proportion were clearly written in the grain book, and standard flour, rice, millet, cornmeal, red flour, and bargain grain were divided into very detailed categories.

Cornmeal steamed bread and millet rice are usually the staple food of most families. If you want to eat rice or flour, you have to wait for a festival or something.

Even families with many children would usually exchange fine grains for coarse grains, which means they only eat rice a few times a year!
For example, every family with urban household registration has a grain book, which is the certificate for receiving grain coupons every month.

The staff at the grain store would issue grain coupons based on the population records in the grain book. The grain coupons were divided into provincial grain coupons, fine grain coupons and coarse grain coupons.

At that time, the grain book was as important as the urban household registration book and was a symbol of urban citizens.

If citizens go to another city to work or live, they have to transfer a special relationship called "food relationship" at the same time as their household registration.

No "food relationship" means no food to eat.

In addition, in order to travel, stay in a hotel, or do business outside, you need a letter of introduction from the local government or unit, so there is very little personnel mobility now.

When Dachun saw this scene, he was immediately happy.

For a big thing like issuing food coupons, a small matter like inviting parents to school would definitely not be important. I was spared a beating!
Ps: Min'an Street = Chang'an Avenue, Min'an Gate = Tiananmen Gate

A poem was written on the title page of the summer textbook:

"Standing in Punishment"

I am thinking about the desolation of the world and the darkness of the universe
The teacher said I was distracted

Let me stand at the back.

Author: B station netizen

Thanks to the book friend Manjusaka Candang for the 1000-point reward.

Thanks to Zixue Youyue for the 500-point reward.


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(End of this chapter)